5 Biggest Winners & Losers From WWE Raw (July 25)
5. Winner: Cesaro
Cesaro took a huge risk on Draft night. Completely dismayed by his low pick and placement on Raw over SmackDown, The Swiss Superman went off-script to deliver a damning indictment of WWE management. It was comfortably the best interview of his career: though visibly frustrated, Cesaro remained calm and confident throughout, and showed that if given a chance, he can be the “complete” superstar that WWE want him to be.
As with any other shoot, it could’ve easily backfired and left Cesaro languishing in the lower-card doldrums for the rest of his career, but that’s clearly not the case. Not only was Cesaro featured in the night’s Universal Championship proceedings, but he received a huge pop from the WWE Universe when his name was announced, and showed excellent chemistry with Rusev throughout the opening match.
The outburst hasn’t buried Cesaro: it’s put him on the map. His mere involvement with the title qualifier feels like a victory in itself, but after his interactions with Rusev, all signs point towards an imminent United States Title push. The Swiss Superman is the perfect opponent to help Rusev rebuilding the US division, and his post-Draft shoot might just have salvaged Cesaro’s relevance.